Water Crisis

Roughly 70% of our planet is covered by water; however, only 2.5% of that is freshwater. The majority of that small quantity is inaccessible, with 68% being found in icecaps and glaciers. Despite this, water is such an everyday part of our lives that we consume it instinctively. For this reason, it is only in its absence that we realise the impossibility of a life without it. Cape Town is experiencing this harsh reality with dam levels at a quarter of their capacity. A drought of this gravity is unprecedented for a major city, with the municipality scheduling to turn off the reticulation system on 9 July. If this happened, Capetonians would have to queue daily to collect their water from specific points.

Cape Chameleon sits down with Brendan Williamson, Director of Cape Air Water, to discuss the drought in Cape Town and a simple way to produce water – from the air. The company has been able to build momentum in a short space of time and they are currently pushing out over 2,000 bottles of water per day. How did they manage this? Part of the answer lies in the simplicity of their machinery.

Cape Town and its desperate battle to avoid running out of water is a climate change disaster, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, stated this January. While Capetonians are currently in a dire race against time to conserve water, with the local government limiting its residents to 50 litres of water per day, there is another water-intensive culprit to consider: agriculture.

If Cape Town is to avoid Day Zero it will not be because of a silver bullet from the government. It will only happen if Capetonians completely change the way they use their water. These past few weeks I’ve been asking locals what they think about the water crisis and Day Zero. It’s easy to tune into what is happening in the news – but what is filtering through to the people?

Addressing the Cape Town Press Club on Sunday, Minister for Water & Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane reassured the Capetonian public saying that all levels of government are united and working hard to provide water for Cape Town. Overall, Mokonyane’s speech was optimistic, stating firmly that Day Zero could be avoided if we all work together to reduce consumption.

Cape Town is currently in its worst drought in 100 years. We get it. We know. Or do we? So far 60% of Capetonians have not adhered to the delegated amount of 87 litres per person per day. This suggests that the majority of Capetonians are not aware of the harsh reality Day Zero would bring. Put simply, if we continue on our current trajectory then Day Zero will fast be upon us. That is a guarantee.